God at work in the life of Ester and His people

9/23/2011 8:07:53 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  The choice of Ester PT. 2-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Ester 2:8-11

                Message of the verses:  “8  So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. 9  Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem. 10  Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known. 11  Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared.”

                I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that there are four sub-points to this second main point that Dr. Wiersbe uses in his commentary.  I am looking at the second and third sub-points in today’s SD.  It must be remembered that the theme of this second chapter is how the hand of God is at work in the affairs of people and in the case of this second main point in the life of Ester.

                “The encouragement of Hegai” is the title of this second sub point and it covers verses eight and nine of the second chapter of Ester.

                It is not difficult to see the hand of God in this section, for here we have a Persian man whose job was to please the king and so just as in the case of Daniel and also Joseph God brings a man or men into their lives to work out His plans for His people.  One can only imagine how often this is going on in different parts of the world even today, that God is working in the hearts of even unbelievers to bring about what He wants accomplished and to also take care of His children.  I want to give a couple of verse here that show how the Lord will take care of His own:  “Mt 24:22  "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” 1Pe 2:9  But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

                “The nationality of Ester” is the third sup-point and it covers verses ten and eleven.

                Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “It would appear that the two cousins’ silence about their nationality was directed by God because He had a special work for them to accomplish.  There was plenty of anti-Semitism in the Gentile world, and Mordecai’s motive was probably their own personal safety, but God had something greaten in mind.”  He goes on to say “Mordecai and Ester wanted to live in peace, but God used them to keep the Jewish people alive.”  Here again we see the hand of God working for the affairs of His own.

                “The approval of the king” is the fourth sub-point under this second main point and it covers Ester 2:12-18, and although I had not planned to do this one today it has worked out for me to do so.

                  “12  Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women-for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women- 13  the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14  In the evening she would go in and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not again go in to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. 15  Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16  So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17  The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18  Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his princes and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.

                Acts 15:18 reads as follows “"Known to God from eternity are all His works (NKJV).”   This section of Scripture surely is one of the works of God.  We are told that Ester was beautiful in form and features in Ester 2:7 and so this must have been what attracted her to Hegai and who gave her such special treatment, for he knew what the king desired in a woman and therefore she was made ready for the king.  I am sure that this would have been a feather in his cap to prepare Ester for the king.

                We now see the forth banquet that is seen in the book of Ester, for after the king had chosen Ester he was so happy that he decided to give a banquet in her honor and then he declared a holiday for all of Persia, that could be something like the “year of Jubilee.”

                Ester was not put in place to accomplish something great for the children of Israel and this is why she was there at this time in history to save the Jews from destruction. 

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I don’t know if when we get to heaven that we will be able to see things like this explained to us, but I hope that is the case.  I would suppose that the Lord uses us to accomplish things that at times we don’t even realize it.  I just really like so much stories like this when I can see the hand of the Lord working and from time to time I have had the privilege of seeing it in my own life when I meet people who are very open to hear the plan of salvation and then accept that into their lives and have the chance to see them begin to blossom for the Lord.  These are days and times that really bring about the most joy in my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.        Be open and ready for those divine connections that God had prepared for me.

2.       Continue to learn contentment.

3.       Pray that my IBS will not affect what I have to do this morning.

9/23/2011 8:59:47 AM   

               

The Choice of Ester Part-1

9/22/2011 8:09:07 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  The choice of Ester Part-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                         Reference:  Ester 2:5-7

                Message of the verses:  “5  Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6  who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7  He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.”

                Today’s SD begins the second evidence of the hand of God working in the affairs of the people as we are introduced to two of the main characters in this drama, Mordecai and Hadassah (who is Ester).  There are three sub-points under this second main point and today’s SD will deal with the first sub-point. 

                Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin the same tribe that King Saul came from, and it was Saul who was given a task from the Lord to kill all of those who were Amalek.  These were the people who attacked the children of Israel when they were traveling through the wilderness and Joshua fought against them at that time.  Moses had to go up on the hill top and hold his hands up in order to ensure the victory for the children of Israel.  The tribe of Amalek began with the grand-son of Esau who was the brother of Jacob, so the history of Israel and the people of Amalek goes back a long way and it was not a good relationship from the beginning.  Haman who will be introduced as the third main character in this drama is from that people of Amalek and so this bad blood between the children of Israel and Amalek will continue.  The ironic thing is that is Saul who was from the tribe of Benjamin would have followed his instructions from the Lord then this dram would have never taken place for Haman would not have been born. 

                As mentioned Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin and his ancestor, Kish was deported from Israel to Babylon in the second deporting that took place in 597 BC.  In 539 after the Persians took over Babylon Cyrus offered to the Jews a chance to go back to Jerusalem, but Mordecai did not go.  He was raising his cousin Ester (her Persian name) and worked for the government of Persia.  Hadassah means “myrtle” and Ester means star.  The myrtle tree produces flowers that look like a star.  It was because of her beauty that she would be taken into the king’s harem.  An English proverb says “Beauty may have fair leaves, yet bitter fruit,” and it could be that there were many beautiful women in the kingdom of Persia at that time who were exercising the truth of that proverb. 

                It is key to remember that the fact that these two key players who were Jews did not reveal that they were Jews at the beginning of this story.  Mordecai reveals it first and then Ester when it becomes important for the king to know it. In keeping this truth away from the Persians could present itself as a problem to some, yet no one had asked them if they were Jews and so they did not lie about it. Dr. Wiersbe quotes Matthew Henry to help explain this “All truths are not to be spoken at all times, though an untruth is not to be spoken at any time.” 

                Dr. Wiersbe brings up another point here and that is that it seems that either Ester or Mordecia were living a kosher life and this would mean that they were breaking that law.  He asks “Why would God overlook the unfaithfulness of Mordecia and Ester and still use them to accomplish His purposes? 

                There are other problems that come up and that is that Ester was chosen by the king to go into his harem and this surely was against the law along with being married to a non Jew.  I think back to the story of Ruth who was from Moab and yet married Boaz who was a Jew and we find Ruth in the bloodline of Christ along with another Gentile woman who was a prostitute, Rahab.  Paul writes that the grace of God is more powerful than sin and in the case of these three ladies we can surely see that the grace of God is seen in a mighty way. 

                When you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah you find that there was trouble when the Jews were marrying gentiles and they were disciplined for that, but in the cases of these three women the situation is different for there was purpose in their marriages.  Again we need to look at the grace of God. 

                In his introduction to the book of Ester John MacArthur writes about these issues.  “The following observations help to shed some light on these issues.  First, this short book does not record everything.  Perhaps Mordecai and Ester actually possessed a deeper faith than becomes apparent here (cf. 4:16).  Second, even godly Nehemiah did not mention his God when talking to King Artaxerxes (Ne. 2:1-8).  Third, the Jewish festivals which provided structure for worship had been lost long before Ester, e.g., Passover (2Ki. 23:22) and Booths (Ne. 8:17).  Fourth, possibly the anti-Jewish letter written by the Samaritans to Ahasuerus several years earlier had frightened them (ca. 486 B. C.; Ezr. 4:6).  Fifth, the evil intentions of Haman did not just first surface when Mordecai refused to bow down (3:12).  Most likely they were long before shared by others which would have intimidated the Jewish population.  Sixth, Ester did identify with her Jewish heritage at the most appropriate time (7:3, 4).  And yet, the nagging question of why Ester and Mordecai did not seem to have the same kind of open devotion to God as did Daniel remains.  Further, Nehemiah’s prayer (Ne. 1:5-11, esp. v. 7) seems to indicate a spiritual lethargy among the Jewish exiles in Susa.  So this issue must ultimately be resolved by God since He alone knows human hearts.”   I think that that is the best place to leave it.  Paul writes that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and so again we must look at the grace of God, for without the grace of God all would have to deal with the judgment of God.  I for one am thankful for the courage of both Mordecai and Ester for without their courage the entire Jewish race may have been wiped out and then how would the Savior been born??

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The quote from Matthew Henry seems to have hit home with me as I did the SD.  I suppose that there are times when I do not follow that quote and it gets me into trouble that could be avoided.  I surely make it a practice never to lie and as I look at Ester she was not lying when she did not divulge that she was a Jew.  This is the kind of thing I am talking about. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.        Continue to word on a better prayer life.

2.       Continue to learn to be content.

9/22/2011 9:28:10 AM

               

Vindictiveness

9/20/2011 8:49:27 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                                             Focus:  His vindictiveness

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                                         Reference:  Ester 1:13-22

                Message of the verses:  “13  Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times-for it was the custom of the king so to speak before all who knew law and justice 14  and were close to him: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had access to the king’s presence and sat in the first place in the kingdom- 15  "According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?" 16  In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17  "For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, ’King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.’ 18  "This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s conduct will speak in the same way to all the king’s princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger. 19  "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she. 20  "When the king’s edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, great as it is, then all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small." 21  This word pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. 22  So he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.”

Toward the end of his commentary on this first chapter of Ester Warren Wiersbe writes the following:  “The more you know about Ahasuerus and his philosophy of life, the more you detest him.”  It is not hard to disagree with that quote after reading how he handled the situation with Queen Vashti.  We have here a drunk, prideful king who wants to save face after making a ridiculous statement.  It reminds me of Herod who had John the Baptist killed after making a ridiculous statement about watching his wife’s daughter dance before him and his guests. Both of these events involved wine, women and lustful men, and the three together will likely cause trouble as it did here.

Queen Vashti was nobler than the king and if the king would have taken time to get sober and think about what he did then it would have probably blown over, but he had to solve this “problem” right away and so he called his “experts” in to discuss this pressing issue.  These were probably men who looked at the stars for all of the answers, something like is seen in the book of Daniel.  They had to flatter the king so that they could keep their jobs and as it has been discussed before the king was gullible and trusted these men too much, something we will see later in this drama.

One might wonder what happened to Vashti, for the Bible does not say anything about her after this incident.  Many Bible scholars believe that she was pregnant at this time and that was another reason that she did not want to parade before a lot of drunken men.  Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “Many biblical scholars believe she was Amestris, the mother of Artaxerxes who ruled from 464 to 425 B. C. It’s likely that Ester was either out of favor or dead; for Amestris exercised great influence as the queen mother during her son’s reign.”    

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that what I can learn from this situation is to stop and think about what needs to be done on a certain situation rather than rush into it without thinking like the king did.  He was angry and he was drunk and he made the wrong decision because he did not stop and let his anger and drunkenness settle down before acting.  Proverbs 12:16 reads as follows, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”  Good advice. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Continue to work on a more productive prayer time.

2.       Continue to learn contentment.

9/20/2011 10:52:55 AM

  

Drinking and Anger Do not Mix

9/19/2011 8:19:07 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  His drunkenness

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                         Reference:  Ester 1:10-12

                Message of the verses:  “  10 ¶  On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11  to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful. 12  But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him.”

                The second evidence of King Ahasuerus’ pride is seen in today’s SD, and that evidence is drunkenness. 

                It is good to know what the purpose of the author of the book of Ester is, and that would be to show how Ester became queen and so he does not go into the military reasons for this seven day party.  I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that God is not mentioned in the book of Ester, but the moving of God is very apparent. 

                Looking at verse twelve we find that the king is very drunk and that the queen’s response brought about a triple offense on her part.  She was a woman, who was challenging the authority of a man, and she was a wife challenging the authority of her husband, and she was a subject challenging the authority of the king.  The result was a very mad, drunk, prideful king not good for the queen.

                While going through the book of Ester we will see this king controlling everything but himself, something that the Scriptures address and we will look at soon.  But first we must look at some of the flaws in the character of this king.  We know that he was prideful, and that he was a drunk, and will later learn of his vindictiveness, and all of these are flaws in his character.  We will see that he listens to others without really thinking about what they are saying to him.  These people will use flattery when they speak to him in order to get what they want.  He became very angry without thinking something that probably happened at this time because of his drunkenness.  “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city,” (Proverbs 16:32).  “Pr 28:23 He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue. Pr 29:5 A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.”

                Dr. Wiersbe takes time while writing on this section to write about the problems of drunkenness and anger and what the Scriptures have to say about these two subjects.  I have read what he has to say about these two great problems that surface in our society today and agree with them.  He writes that the Bible does command total abstinence, but it does emphasize it.  Many people point to Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding and then say that it is okay to drink socially.  The wine that was used during that period was a very weak wine and mostly used because the water was not really good.  The Bible does command that we are not to be drunk, and it also commands that when we are angry we are to sin not.  Many point out that Jesus was angry, yet his anger was justified because it was against sin, and we too are to be angry at sin, yet we cannot take that as a reason to sin, which it can turn into.  As we look at these verses for today’s SD we can see that King Ahasuerus acted very foolishly and that the queen certainly did right in her actions.  We see here something that was totally wrong being used to bring about something that will be good, and that is the saving of the people of Israel.  God has promised to take care of the nation of Israel and He is still doing that even today.

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  If I can be totally honest at this point I will say that I have problems with anger from time to time and it is something that I as a believer realize and need to work on and to be in prayer about so that the Lord will begin to work in my life so that I only am angry about sinfulness and then not let the sun to go down on my anger.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Be angry and sin not.

2.       Don’t let the sun go down on my anger.

3.       Continue to learn contentment.

9/19/2011 9:11:59 AM

(Ester) The Queen Says No

9/18/2011 8:05:47 AM

SIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                                             Focus:  His boastfulness

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                                         Reference:  Ester 1:1-9

                Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 2  in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa, 3  in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence. 4  And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days. 5  When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. 6  There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on silver rings and marble columns, and couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones. 7  Drinks were served in golden vessels of various kinds, and the royal wine was plentiful according to the king’s bounty. 8  The drinking was done according to the law, there was no compulsion, for so the king had given orders to each official of his household that he should do according to the desires of each person. 9  Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.”

                Today’s SD begins a new book from the Scriptures, the book of Ester, and it also continues the commentary of Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s “Be Determined,” which covers both the book of Ruth and also the book of Ester.  It has been eighteen months since I did Spiritual Diaries on the book of Ruth, March 10, 2010 was the first SD on the book of Ruth and so I will pick up on Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary to aid me in the study of this very important book of the Bible.

                There is no mention of “God” in all of Ruth, and I suppose that caused some debate when those who were deciding on whether or not to include this book as part of Scripture.  We meet the king of Persia in this first chapter of Ester and a bit of background on him will make it easier to understand the book.  His name in the Persian language is Khshayarshan, and this becomes Ahasuerus in Hebrew and Xerxes in Greek. His father was Darius I, and his grandfather was Cyrus, the same Cyrus that is mentioned in the 45^th chapter is Isaiah whom God spoke of long before his birth to be the man to let the children of Israel leave Babylon.  Babylon captured Judah and carried exiles to Babylon on three different occasions starting in 605 BC and the last was 586 BC with one more time in the middle.  You can find some of the details of how the Medes and the Persians captured mighty Babylon by reading the fifth chapter of Daniel where we have the famous “hand writing on the wall.”

                Dr. Wiersbe points out that most kings are very proud men and this was the case with Ahasuerus and so as I go through this first chapter of Ester and this first chapter from “Be Determined,” it will become clear that there were three areas of pride that will be seen from this king.  I believe that we find out what the Lord thinks about pride from reading the book of Proverbs. 

                                As far as who wrote the book of Ester it is not known for sure, but some think that perhaps Ezra or

Nehemiah wrote Ester.  As far as OT history this is the last book in the OT history section which started with Genesis.  Sections of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi report later OT history than Ester does, Malachi being the last book of the OT and OT section of Minor Prophets.  Pastor, teacher, and author John MacArthur writes that others have suggested Mordecai as a possible author of Ester.  I suppose that one of the reasons this book is so loved is because of the drama that is played out in it, and there is a lot of drama found in Ester.

                When one reads these verses they might think that there was a six month party that went on, but that is probably not the case for Dr. Wiersbe points out that there were three different banquets that each lasted one week, for if the king would have assembled all of his leader it could surely have weakened the kingdom so there was probably a different banquette for different parts of the empire.  This would have been part of the political banquette.  There was another banquette that went on in the kings winter palace in Susa (Greek) or Shushan (Persian).  There was also a party that was given by Queen Vashti.

                The Greek historian Herodotus (485-425 B. C.) writes that the possible reason for these first banquettes was to plan an invasion of Greece, for Ahasuerus’ father Darius I had been defeated by the Greeks at Marathon in 490 and perhaps his son wanted to take care of this defeat.  Darius had died in 486 B.C.  “Herodotus claims that Ahasuerus planned to invade all of Europe and reduce the whole earth into one empire.”  As mentioned earlier this man was boastful, and if he would have looked at Daniel’s writing he would have found out that his plan was doomed. 

                History shows that in the case of Ahasuerus that a little verse from the book of Proverbs that is quoted often was true in his case:  Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (NKJV).”  His navy was defeated on a number of occasions by the Greek navy and so his plan to rule all of Europe fell by the wayside.  Latter on he would be assimilated.

                It was mentioned in yesterday’s SD writing on twelve qualities of a leader that a great leader must realize that they are number two all of the time, realizing that God will do what He desires and plans to do.  This kind of boastful attitude is found in different parts of the Bible from what happened to Pharaoh in Exodus all the way to what happened to Herod Agrippa as seen in Acts 12:20-23.  There were others in between these events.

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  My life verse has become Philippians 4:11 “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”  The last part of that verse has been on my mind for a long time and I surely have a long way to go to say what Paul wrote that he had learned to be content.  One of the things that get in the way of contentment is pride and this can be seen in this great book of Ester as it will weave its way through the story. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Continue to learn contentment.

2.       Word on my prayer life.

9/18/2011 9:21:05 AM       

Twelve Qualifications of Leadership

9/17/2011 8:20:57 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

                As I mentioned in yesterday’s SD (9-16-2011) that I did not know if I would do one more as a wrap up of the book of Nehemiah, but after beginning to read the last chapter in “Be Determined” I have decided to do one more from Nehemiah. 

                Dr. Wiersbe entitles this last chapter in “Be Determined” “Looking For Leaders,” and in his last chapter he lists twelve qualities that made Nehemiah a successful leader, so in this final SD on Nehemiah I have decided to list these twelve qualities with a brief statement about each of them.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that the Church today is in great need of leaders so it is good to realize exactly what the qualities of a good leader are.

1.        A good leader is called.  I remember reading a biography of the late President Ronald Reagan and in it I learned that he truly believed that he was called by God to rid the world of communism and I would say that bringing the end to the cold war showed that he truly believed his call was from God.  Nehemiah was truly called by God to go to Jerusalem and to make sure the walls were repaired and the people were following the Law of God.  He received this call while praying about the situation in Jerusalem.  It is so important that in the Church that leaders are called by the Lord for there will be times when that are all that they have to keep them going.  Jeremiah is a great example of this for as he went through the awful things that he went through he had to rely upon the call of the Lord and upon the Lord that called him.  Nehemiah was a man called by God.

2.       A good leader depends on prayer.  Nehemiah hears from his brother who had been to Jerusalem and had just returned to Babylon with terrible news about the people and the city.  This pricked the heart of Nehemiah and he began to fast and to pray for the city and the people.  This began in our months Nov./Dec. and ended in March/April, a period of around four months.  Prayer is very hard work and the book of Nehemiah is filled with prayer, and it also has many “telegraph” prayers in it, short prayers that came from the heart of a man who made prayer a vital part of his life.  Phillips Brooks wrote “Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks.”  Dr. Wiersbe writes “One mark of true spiritual leaders is their honest acknowledgement of their own inadequacy and their humble trust in the power of God.”  R. A. Torrey writes “Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great thing, but above all pray,” and we have seen that Nehemiah was a man of prayer.

3.       Nehemiah had vision and saw the greatness of the work:  It is not only important for a leader to be called by God and to pray but having a vision is also very an important quality of a leader.  Nehemiah had a vision and it was not just repairing the gates in Jerusalem, what he was doing was setting the stage for the Messiah to visit Jerusalem.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “If you lose the greatness of a vision, you will begin to cut corners in your work, stop making sacrifices, and start looking for something else to challenge you.”  Nehemiah never had this kind of a problem.  When he was challenged to do something else in chapter six he replied “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.”  This next quote from Dr. Wiersbe is something that I believe is needed to be listened to by all members of our local churches:  “No matter what God has called you to do, it’s great work because it’s part of the building of His church; and that’s the greatest work in the world.”  I have a sign on our refrigerator that reads:  “We are not human beings going through a temporary Spiritual experience.  We are Spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.”  I truly believe that Nehemiah knew this.

4.       Nehemiah submitted to authority.  As believers we are under the authority of our government, as Paul writes about in Romans 13.  Nehemiah knew that he was under the authority of the king, and he also knew that he was under the authority of the Word of God and the God of the Word.  I have heard a statement that goes along with this quality of leadership and it goes “A good leader always knows that he is second in command.”  Now I suppose that this quote would go along with a President, or a CEO, or even a Pastor, but once a leader forgets that he is under the authority of God he will find himself in a great deal of trouble.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “In recent years, we have seen the sad consequences of religious leaders refusing to submit to authority and be accountable.  When you read the Book of Nehemiah, you meet a man whose work prospered because he submitted to God, the Word, and the king.”

5.       Nehemiah was organized in his work.  One can see the calling that God had given to Nehemiah and that he had a vision of what God wanted him to accomplish, but more than that he was organized in the work that he was accomplishing for the Lord.  When he first got to Jerusalem he took a late night ride to see what needed to be done and then he spoke to some other leaders that would be working for him to give his plans to them.  He encouraged the workers as he knew where all of them were working.  When the work was finished his plan was to dedicate the walls and have a revival meeting.  Nehemiah’s priorities were right and his work was organized.

6.       Nehemiah was able to discern the tactics of the enemy.  The apostle Paul wrote in 2Cor. 2:11 “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.”  This was true of Nehemiah as seen in the first part of this book on many different occasions.  Satan can be seen as an angle of light or a roaring lion and Nehemiah saw both of these while building the wall.  Nehemiah understood the wiles of Satan’s attacks and all good leaders should have this quality as well.

7.       Nehemiah worked hard.  Charles Spurgeon said the following to his students “Do not be afraid of hard work for Christ; a terrible reckoning awaits those who have an easy time in the ministry, but a great reward is in reserve for those who endure all things for the elect’s sake.  You will not regret your poverty when Christ cometh and calleth His won servants to Him.  It will be a sweet thing to have died at your post, not turning aside for wealth, or running from Dan to Beersheba to obtain a better salary, but stopping where your Lord bade you hold the fort” (An All round Ministry, p. 197).”  One can see this quality in the life of Nehemiah for he could have stayed back at the king’s palace and lived the good life, but he chose to work hard with his fellows Jews in Jerusalem.

8.       Nehemiah lived an exemplary life.  You never saw any lying, stealing or cheating going on in Nehemiah’s life.  Sir Walter Scott wrote these famous words “O what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”  This was surely not true in the life of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was not sinless, however his life was sinless.  Look at Philippians 2:15, “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.”  That was Nehemiah!  Now look at the first qualification of a Pastor (Elder) “An overseer, then, must be above reproach,” “if any man is above reproach,” (1Timothy 3:6 & Titus 1:6).

9.       Nehemiah sought to glorify God alone.  Nehemiah realized that the city of Jerusalem and the people who lived there were not bringing glory to God and that was the purpose of why they existed.  When we go back to the creation of this world that took place in six twenty-four days we see that at the end of each day God pronounced that “it was good.”  There was nothing wrong with it and so it was good and it also glorified God.  Psalm 19 speaks of the heavens declaring the glory of God that is one of the purposes for all of the stars and planets that are in the sky to bring glory to God.  During the sixth day of creation God created man and then He declared at the end of that day “it is very good.”  God took over five days to create the earth and the stars and everything we see in preparation for His most awesome creation, and that was man, and the reason that it was so awesome was that man is made in the image of God, man walks upright and can look at the heavens and see the glory of God in those heavens.  The catechism says that the chief purpose of man is to bring glory to God and that is what Nehemiah was doing when he went to Jerusalem.  Nehemiah was not doing this for his glory, but to glorify the Lord, the King of Glory.

10.    Nehemiah had courage.  Paul writes to Timothy in his second letter to him the following, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”  There seems to be evidence that Timothy was timid or in some translations fearful.  That is what the word in the Greek means fearful or timid, and Nehemiah was neither.  We see throughout this book that he stood his ground and did not back down.  When things got tough he would pray one of his short telegraph prayers to the Lord to give him strength and courage, for he had a sure calling from the Lord, knowing that what he was doing would bring glory to the Lord.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that someone said that success is never final and failure is never fatal:  It’s courage that counts.”  The ancients Greeks said that courage was the master virtue because without it you could never use the other ones.

11.    Nehemiah enlisted others to work.  One of my favorite passages on the church and on the Pastors of the church is found in the epistle of the church and that would be the book of Ephesians.  Ephesians was not actually written only to the Ephesians, but was meant to go to all of the surrounding churches and its theme is how the church should be run.  Paul writes that one of the duties of the Pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of the Lord.  The church is like a station where you can come to get filled up on the Word of God in order to go out into the world to tell others that you meet about what the Word of God has to say.  Some think that it is the Pastor’s job to tell others about Christ, and that is true in the sense that all believers are to tell others about Christ, but his job is to make sure that we are equipped to tell others about Christ and to be able to disciple others once they too have become believers.  When one reads the book of Nehemiah they will see that Nehemiah enlisted others to be part of the work that he was called to do, that he prayed over and that would bring glory to God.  Dr. Wiersbe point out that in his study of Christian biographies that there were certain people that were like magnets to others who would follow their leadership to do the work of the Lord.  D. L. Moody is a man like that.  I have read several biographies on Moody and this can surely be seen from those books.  Nehemiah was like this.

12.    Nehemiah was determined.  Dr. Wiersbe entitles the “Be” book “Be Determined,” and I suppose that this is the reason that he saved this quality of a leader to last.  The Polish labor leader who would later become their president, Lech Walesa said the following as quoted from “Be Determined,” “To be a leader means to have determination.  It means to be resolute inside and outside, with ourselves and with others.” “If anybody lived up to that description, it was Nehemiah.”  We find this quality throughout the book of Nehemiah as one of the main themes of the book.  Dr. Wiersbe quotes Dr. V. Raymond Edman who was the president of Wheaton College in Illinois as saying to his students “It’s always too soon to quit.”  Luke 9:51 speaks of Jesus determination as He set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem in order to accomplish the will of His Father.

Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on Nehemiah with some words that are very meaningful to the church today.  “The church today needs leaders, men and women and young people who will determine under God to accomplish the will of God, come what may.  The church needs leaders who will say with Nehemiah “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down!” 

“So the next time you feel like quitting, remember Nehemiah and stay on the job until the work is finished to the glory of God.”

“Be Determined.”

   

9/17/2011 11:23:54 AM